For Want of a Crystal
by Freeformschooler
Summary: A story following four children and a slew of other characters through their adventures in a world poisoned by the terrible, omnipresent disease called "Miasma". Rated T for violence and occasional mature themes.


**Chapter I**

**Prelude on a Starry Night**

So it is with a story that I greet you

A story where magic rings true

A story where life is not what it seems

A tale of a group whose crystal gleams

Lighting up the night sky

Guiding their way

Through fields and caves

To fight yet another day

"Lumina? Lumina, where are you?"  
Talis rushed up the sloped hill on the edge of town. "Town's Edge", they called it. How appropriate, he thought to himself. From this outlook he and his three friends had come each night for most of their lives to gaze upon the sunset, and watch the stars reveal themselves.

Just then, he spotted a shadowy figure up ahead – no, two of them. Two of his friends were already there. Seeing the figures in the distance made the jaunt up said hill _seem_ a whole lot shorter. However, in reality the distance didn't change. When he had almost caught up to what he could make out as the girls of the group, he was out of breathe.

In front of Talis on the right side of the fence along Town's Edge was his childhood friend Lumina. She looked upon him, right into his eyes. Her discolored eyes gave off a hint of playful gloating, because, of course, _she_ was there before him.  
"What was all that about, Talis? 'Oh, Lumina, where are thou!'" she joked, adding an elder lisp to her imitation of his words either for spite, or for fun. He couldn't tell. She continued, adding: "Where did you think I'd be this night? We always come here. Ri Miar is here, too, and you know how caught up she gets in her job." With this, she nudged her head in the direction of a tall girl whose figure was drenched in the shadow of the darkening sky.

Talis looked down. "I... figured you might be with your father tonight. He figured as much, too," he uttered, with a solemn half-smile on his face. Lumina's slight playful attitude died down, making Talis wince that he had killed the moment.

Lumina's voice softened. "Perhaps I did leave hastily," was all she said. She then looked upon him with resent once more. "But you stayed too long!" They began arguing among themselves once more.

As they talked, the young woman that Lumina was referring to looked down off the fence on the edge of the cliff, her face half-buried in her own arms, and sighed gently. Her name was Ri Miar. She was born into a family of Selkies, a race of people that naturally develop personality traits akin to wild animals, along with her brother, Ri Mu. Physically, Selkies looked much akin to another race, the Clavats, the race of which Lumina and Talis belong to, despite their affinity to the natural world. Clavats were very human-like in a appearance.

She and Ri Mu lived alone in the little village by the name of Simure. The only other inhabitants were Lumina and her father, Talis and his family, and the village elder, who lived alone.

In the center of Simure was a massive crystal with no known origin that had the power to fend off disease. A few years ago, a disease dubbed "Miasma" had spread across the world like wildfire. The crystal was the only reason that these people could live a normal, pleasant life.

However, what these four did not know until today was that the Miasma grew stronger by the year. This year, it had weakened the crystal. It was revealed to the four youngsters in the morning of the day now behind them that they must leave the village to find something to would strengthen the crystal once more, for the good of all who lived there. If they could not, the crystal's power would eventually be sapped completely, and all the inhabitants of Simure would die a slow, painful death.

Though the four kids had never left Simure except for short excursions to retrieve resources, and even then only before the Miasma spread, it was the same way throughout the entire continent; at least, as far as anyone knew. They would leave the following morning, provided everything was in order. Only then would they be able to see how Miasma had changed the world.

Rumor had it that there were special trees throughout the world with the ability to replenish a crystal like this with just a few drops of a special kind of dew they produced once a year. Their goal was to find these trees – "Myrrh Trees", they were called – and bring back the so-called magical dew, or "Myrrh", to the crystal in Simure.

As Ri Miar contemplated all this, she felt her brother's presence coming closer. Normally, Ri Mu was a rowdy, talkative sort, but tonight all were solemn. Only the grass under their feet whispering through the wind gave sound to the night – Lumina and Talis didn't count, of course, because they were always having scuffles.

She moved her long, dark blue hair off of her ears as to catch the sound the soft footsteps of the group's fourth member. Ri Mu walked up beside her slowly, unlike what normally happens, in which case he'd have been racing up to the top of the hill against Talis, and Ri Miar would have been telling Lumina about everything that's wrong with boys as a whole for the thousandth time.

Tonight, though, the energetic Selkie siblings were quiet. Not a word needed to be exchanged; they knew what each other was thinking.

Ri Miar still punched her brother in the shoulder for the heck of it, though. He returned the kind gesture. They both managed a sad smile.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" snapped Lumina.

"It means precisely what I said – that the clouds must have abandoned you for tonight, because your head's not in them!" exclaimed Talis.

She stopped for a moment. "Why do you think I always have my head in the clouds, boy? Do you think my mind wanders because I will it to? Not so! Look into the stars and see for yourself," she replied.

"What do you mea- whoa," said he, stopping for once to look into the stars and see how very beautiful they were. He saw Lumina calm down. Their fighting had achieved nothing.

"We're leaving, Talis. There's nothing you or I nor any of us can do about it. So look into the stars," she said softly. Talis was about to reply when he saw that she had tears in her eyes, looking up into the night sky herself. He looked up into the sky once more, listening to her song begin.

"Look into the stars, young man  
See for yourself what I see  
A journey's beginning  
Four unwillingly set free

Some things never change

Like the sun or the moon

But our lives are changing

We're leaving so soon

If you'll stop for a moment

Listen to the night  
Hear what it's saying

'Children, cease this fight'

We must work together

On a journey new

We must find strength in each other

Our own strength must stay true

So look with me boy

Look into to night

See the stars dancing

It's gonna be alright"

Talis had heard Lumina sing before, but never like this. He saw Ri Mu and Ri Miar staring in awe, too. Through the entire song, the Clavat girl's eyes were fixated upon the night sky, never faltering.

Ri Mu quietly said "That was really impressive, Lumina, I-" but before he could finish, his sister cut him off with a wave of her hand. No need to break to moment.

The four looked upon the sea of stars and could make out star signs foreshadowing travels ahead of them. Little did they know just how far these journeys would take them, and what they would entail.

And so it was that four children from the little village of Simure started a new life together.

**=End Chapter I=**


End file.
